Share prices on Bursa Malaysia opened lower on selling pressure in blue chips in line with losses in US equity indices which plunged between 1.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent last night, dealers said.

At 9.45am, the underlying FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was 6.4 per cent lower at 1,551.77 after opening 2.45 point easier at 1,555.72.

Bursa Malaysia''s Finance Index fell 68.87 points to 14,672.12 but the Plantation Index rose 8.16 points to 7,741.63 and the Industrial Index declined 16.51 points to 2,843.16.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia Emas Index dropped 43.279 points to 10,692.73, the Malaysia Mid 70 Index gained 61.091 points to 11,802.27 and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Ace Index dipped 29.2 points to 4,110.51.

Losers outpaced gainers 269 to 103 while 186 other counters were unchanged. A total of 221.02 million shares worth RM205.79 million were traded.

Among active stocks, Hubline and Olympia Industries added one sen each to 9.5 sen and 30.5 sen, respectively, while Bumi Armada lost eight sen to RM4.05.

For heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM8.82, CIMB dropped nine sen to RM8.30 and Petronas Chemical declined five sen to RM6.87. -- Bernama